Hundreds of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are derived from glucosylceramide (GlcCer), which is enzymatically formed from ceramide and UDP-glucose. The enzyme involved in GlcCer formation is UDP-glucose:N-acylsphingosine glucosyltransferase (GlcCer synthase). The rate of GlcCer formation under physiological conditions may depend on the tissue level of UDP-glucose, which in turn depends on the level of glucose in a particular tissue (Zador, I. Z. et al., “A Role for Glycosphingolipid Accumulation in the Renal Hypertrophy of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus,” J. Clin. Invest., 91:797-803 (1993)). In vitro assays based on endogenous ceramide yield lower synthetic rates than mixtures containing added ceramide, suggesting that tissue levels of ceramide are also normally rate-limiting (Brenkert, A. et al., “Synthesis of Galactosyl Ceramide and Glucosyl Ceramide by Rat Brain: Assay Procedures and Changes with Age,” Brain Res., 36:183-193 (1972)).
It has been found that the level of GSLs controls a variety of cell functions, such as growth, differentiation, adhesion between cells or between cells and matrix proteins, binding of microorganisms and viruses to cells, and metastasis of tumor cells. In addition, the GlcCer precursor, ceramide, may cause differentiation or inhibition of cell growth (Bielawska, A. et al., “Modulation of Cell Growth and Differentiation by Ceramide,” FEBS Letters, 307:211-214 (1992)) and be involved in the functioning of vitamin D3, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukins, and apoptosis (programmed cell death). The sphingols (sphingoid bases), precursors of ceramide, and products of ceramide catabolism, have also been shown to influence many cell systems, possibly by inhibiting protein kinase C (PKC).
It is likely that all the GSLs undergo catabolic hydrolysis, so any blockage in the GlcCer synthase should ultimately lead to depletion of the GSLs and profound changes in the functioning of a cell or organism. An inhibitor of GlcCer synthase, PDMP (1R-phenyl-2R-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol), previously identified as the D-threo isomer (Inokuchi, J. et al., “Preparation of the Active Isomer of 1-Phenyl-2-Decanoylamino-3-Morpholino-1-Propanol, Inhibitor of Glucocerebroside Synthetase,” J. Lipid Res., 28:565-571 (1987)), has been found to produce a variety of chemical and physiological changes in cells and animals (Radin, N. S. et al., “Use of 1-Phenyl-2-Decanoylamino-3-Morpholino-1-Propanol (PDMP), an Inhibitor of Glucosylceramide Synthesis,” In NeuroProtocols, A Companion to Methods in Neurosciences, S. K. Fisher et al., Ed., (Academic Press, San Diego) 3:145-155 (1993) and Radin, N. S. et al., “Metabolic Effects of Inhibiting Glucosylceramide Synthesis with PDMP and Other Substances,” In Advances in Lipid Research; Sphingolipids in Signaling, Part B., R. M. Bell et al., Ed. (Academic Press, San Diego) 28:183-213 (1993)). Particularly interesting is the compound's ability to cure mice of cancer induced by Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells (Inokuchi, J. et al., “Antitumor Activity in Mice of an Inhibitor of Glycosphingolipid Biosynthesis,” Cancer Lett., 38:23-30 (1987)), to produce accumulation of sphingosine and N,N-dimethylsphingosine (Felding-Habermann, B. et al., “A Ceramide Analog Inhibits T Cell Proliferative Response Through Inhibition of Glycosphingolipid Synthesis and Enhancement of N,N-Dimethylsphingosine Synthesis,” Biochemistry, 29:6314-6322 (1990)), and to slow cell growth (Shayman, J. A. et al., “Modulation of Renal Epithelial Cell Growth by Glucosylceramide: Association with Protein Kinase C, Sphingosine, and Diacylglyceride,” J. Biol. Chem. 266:22968-22974 (1991)). Compounds with longer chain fatty acyl groups have been found to be substantially more effective (Abe, A. et al., “Improved Inhibitors of Glucosylceramide Synthesis,” J. Biochem., 111:191-196 (1992)).
The importance of GSL metabolism is underscored by the seriousness of disorders resulting from defects in GSL metabolizing enzymes (which diseases may collectively be referred to as “glycosphingolipidoses”). For example, Tay-Sachs, Gaucher's, and Fabry's diseases, resulting from enzymatic defects in the GSL degradative pathway and the accumulation of GSL in the patient, all have severe clinical manifestations. Another example of the importance of GSL function is seen in a mechanism by which blood cells, whose surfaces contain selectins, can, under certain conditions, bind to GSLs in the blood vessel walls and produce acute, life-threatening inflammation (Alon, R. et al., “Glycolipid Ligands for Selectins Support Leukocyte Tethering & Rolling Under Physiologic Flow Conditions,” J. Immunol., 154:5356-5366 (1995)).
At present there is only one treatment available for patients with Gaucher disease, wherein the normal enzyme which has been isolated from normal human tissues or cultured cells is administered to the patient. As with any drug isolated from human material, great care is needed to prevent contamination with a virus or other dangerous substances. Treatment for an individual patient is extremely expensive, costing hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars, over a patient's lifetime. It would thus be desirable to provide a treatment which includes administration of a compound that is readily available and/or producible from common materials by simple reactions.
Possibly of even greater clinical relevance is the role of glucolipids in cancer. For example, it has been found that certain GSLs occur only in tumors; certain GSLs occur at abnormally high concentrations in tumors; certain GSLs, added to tumor cells in culture media, exert marked stimulatory or inhibitory actions on tumor growth; antibodies to certain GSLs inhibit the growth of tumors; the GSLs that are shed by tumors into the surrounding extracellular fluid inhibit the body's normal immunodefense system; the composition of a tumor's GSLs changes as the tumors become increasingly malignant; and, in certain kinds of cancer, the level of a GSL circulating in the blood gives useful information regarding the patient's response to treatment. Because of the significant impact GSLs have on several biochemical processes, there remains a need for compounds having improved GlcCer synthase inhibition activity.
It would thus be desirable to provide compounds which inhibit GlcCer synthase activity, thereby lowering the level of GSLs and increasing GSL precursor levels, e.g. increasing the levels of ceramide and sphingols. It would further be desirable to provide compounds which inhibit GlcCer synthase activity and lower the level of GSLs without also increasing ceramide levels. It would also be desirable to provide compounds and therapeutic methods to treat conditions and diseases associated with altered GSL levels and/or GSL precursor levels.